What’s the news: Apple took down 14 apps in India in 2022 from the App Store subject to government takedown demands, as per the company’s first-ever transparency report. Why it matters: The report comes after the conclusion of a class-action lawsuit between Apple and US app developers. Along with agreeing to a $100 million settlement, the company announced it will release annual transparency reports that will contain “meaningful statistics about the app review process, including the number of apps rejected for different reasons, the number of customer and developer accounts deactivated, objective data regarding search queries and results, and the number of apps removed from the App Store.” Since this is the company’s first attempt to publicize such data, it is important to see which data points the report highlights. India among the top-five countries sending app removal requests India recorded second-highest app removals: Based on the transparency report, India recorded the second-highest number of apps removed from the App Store based on government requests. China mainland recorded the highest number of app removals at 1435 actions. Pakistan ranked third highest with 10 app removals based on government requests. India comes fourth in appeals for removals: Of the 18,412 appeals of app removals, India accounts for 709 removal appeals. The highest number of appeals came from China mainland with 5,484 requests followed by the United States of America with 3,157 requests. The United Kingdom sent 817 removal requests. Apple restored 24 apps in India: In terms of restorations after appeals of app removals, 24…
